Warren

Warren Dean has handled some of the most complex and significant appellate cases concerning the federal regulation of commerce and domestic/international transportation, including 12 appearances and several landmark decisions in the U.S. Supreme Court. He has represented several of the nation’s largest transportation and energy interests — states, major oil companies, airlines, ports, and their respective trade organizations, counterparties, and suppliers — before the courts, federal agencies and Congress in Washington, D.C.

When Congress is drafting related legislation with particularly complicated facets, Warren is often called upon to serve as a legislative and technical advisor. When Congress was writing the Oil Pollution Act following the Exxon Valdez accident, he helped to craft a workable funding scheme ensuring that a new excise tax would be used for the purpose intended. He has been consulted by the Department of Transportation, where he formerly served as assistant general counsel for international law.

While in government, Warren drafted the brief of the United States in Japan Line, Ltd. v. County of Los Angeles, which set aside state taxation of shipping containers moving in foreign commerce. He represented the U.S. airline industry through the Air Transport Association of America in EL AL Israel Airlines, Ltd. v. Tsui Yuan Tseng, affirming the supremacy of the rules of the Warsaw Convention over state law claims against airlines. He successfully argued Federal Maritime Commission v. South Carolina State Ports Authority, upholding the sovereign immunity of state instrumentalities from private complaints before federal administrative tribunals.

And when the aviation industry was interested in ratifying The Montreal Convention, which establishes and governs airline liability around the world, it hired Warren not only to draft the new treaty, but also to get it approved by the U.S. Senate and implemented. He delivered, and to date this is the only private international law treaty to have been so adopted and implemented. Whenever any U.S. passenger gets on board any U.S. airline to travel internationally, they fly under contract terms he drafted.